Tobi's Volunteer Management Blog

Paid Work and Volunteering: Mutually Exclusive or Mutually Beneficial?

As our economy evolves, I hear frustration expressed that volunteers simply aren’t available any more.  Two reasons are often cited for the current "drought" -- 1) Older volunteers are delaying retirement, and 2) Unemployed volunteers are returning back to work.  But, I wonder of this is the case.

Aside from anecdotal info and the national Volunteering in America study (which actually shows a small uptick on national volunteer rates), I’ve been unable to find any recent data that provides evidence to support these claims. So, it's hard to state conculsively that we're experiencing significant shifts in volunteer involvement due to workplace fluctuations.

But, this begs the real question, doesn't it? Are volunteering and paid work really mutually exclusive?

As a person who both volunteers and works a full-time job, I’d argue that the two activities actually compliment each other.  Above and beyond its value as an altruistic feel-good endeavor, volunteering can help build and support career development for people entering the workplace, seeking promotion, and changing careers later in life (provided opportunities are offered that fit the volunteer's work/life schedule).

If you’re still not convinced that volunteering might support workplace success, consider these tidbits --

• In a recent Harvard Business Review Daily Management Tip, the publishers recommend that readers “Try Out a Career by Volunteering,” which they suggest allows job seekers to “network with people, build new skills, and enhance their resume.” 
• Last year, LinkedIn added a Volunteer Experience & Causes section to its Profile page functionality.  The Realized Worth blog claimed this change would “revolutionize the way we volunteer” by making volunteering "a normal and expected element of a well-rounded resume."
• In 2011, the New York Times covered a story about how volunteering gains stature on a resume.
• Recent research, such as the Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT study, has pointed out that company-sponsored volunteer programs can actually increase employee job satisfaction and engagement.

Clearly, the business world has discovered the value of volunteering to their own operations, at least at some companies. 

So, how can volunteer programs take advantage of the attention and, at the same time, support the professional success of their volunteers?  I would argue that the answer lies in integrating professional development opportunities into our volunteer reward and recognition strategies. 

This practice will not only support volunteers, it will also help us recruit and retain qualified volunteer talent.  Helping our volunteers grow makes us more attractive to prospective recruits and more valuable to our existing volunteer corps.  It’s a win-win for everyone.
 

Six Ways to Offer Volunteer Professional Development Opportunities

So, what are simple, low-cost ways to incorporate career development into our volunteer program perks?  Here are a few that might work for you:

1. Match Volunteers with the Right Learning and Service Opportunities -- When you interview prospective volunteers, ask them about their current and future career hopes and dreams.  Then, find flexible ways to help them develop their skills in formal and informal ways through specific volunteer positions.  Match their needs with your opportunities.
2. Offer a Variety of In-service Trainings -- You don’t have to develop and present these all by yourself.  Survey volunteers about what they’d like to learn more about.  Then, ask internal staff, external partners, and volunteers themselves if they have expertise to share.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the talents people have to offer. 
3. Write Recommendations for Your Volunteers -- If you know a volunteer is seeking or experiencing a work transition, offer to write a letter of reference or post a recommendation on LinkedIn (also, remind them that they are free to list you as an organization they have supported).  Employers love to see well-rounded applicants who are devoted to their communities.
4. Partner with Employee Volunteer Programs -- Develop a leadership development program, in partnership with a local company, to train and plac volunteers in positions where they spearhead challenging special projects at your organization while gorwing their skills to lead.
5. Help Volunteers Earn College Credit for their Service -- Help students, old and young, get college credits, either through traditional internship (or work-study) programs with local educational institutions or with experiential learning programs, like CAEL, that arrange college credit for life experience.
6. Offer Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) -- If you offer intensive technical training to your volunteers, there’s no reason they shouldn’t get professional credit for it.  It takes some work to be able to offer CEUs, and you may need to form alliances with staff or community partners with specific credentials (i.e., MSW) to make it work, but if these are important to your volunteers, then it may make sense to check it out.

So, what do you think -- Are work and volunteering mutually exclusive?

Fostering an Investment Mindset in Our Volunteer Programs

In his recent Ted Talk, “The way we think about charity is dead wrong,” author and fundraiser Dan Pallotta raises some serious questions about our current mindset and the need for change.  He argues that a discriminatory belief system about nonprofits stunts our growth and capacity.  

What We Believe Keeps Us Down

Three ways we’ve been taught to think about how nonprofits should conduct business stood out for me, particularly because they also impact how we think about and resource our volunteer programs.

1. Nonprofit Compensation Isn’t Merited -- Pallotta points to the herculean social problems nonprofits are attempting to fix, all while paying staff a small percentage of their private sector peers.  I would argue that this pay disparity is even more deeply felt at the volunteer program level.  
   
   Consider problems even defining the average pay grade for volunteer administrators, and the fact that they are underpaid when compared to other staff, all of which is troubling given the broad swath of their responsibilities for program development, volunteer recruitment and onboarding, risk management, in-kind resource generation, supervision, etc.  And, consider that volunteer coordinators, despite the fact that they are often responsible for a significant share of agency human resources -- often far exceeding the number of paid staff FTEs -- are rarely invited to the executive management table.  
   
   How can we attract future talent to the volunteer management profession, if we don’t pay them equitable wages, even within our own sector?
    
2. Time Should be Spent on Direct Service Not Program Development -- Pallotta argues that nonprofits are discouraged from focusing staff attention on experimentation with new program models and allowing staff the breathing room to build effective programs to scale.  Volunteer programs are similarly stymied.  
   
   Consider how volunteer leadership is so often tacked onto a long list of other staff duties, resulting in a lower priority status for volunteer program management.  
   
   How can innovation happen when there simply isn’t time?
    
3. Money Should be Spent on Direct Service, Not Advertising -- Pallotta also noted that nonprofits aren’t really allowed to fully market their solutions in order to drive greater financial support for growth.  Again, in this respect, volunteer programs suffer mightily.  
   
   Consider how an agency’s meager advertising budget is often unequally split between the fundraising department and the volunteer program, despite the fact that volunteers donate 10 times more than non-volunteers, representing a far greater potential for return on investment.  
   
   If we rely solely on word of mouth and DIY volunteer recruitment efforts, without using more sophisticated marketing practices, can we really expect to reach the quality, committed citizenry we hope to engage? 

Finally, Pallotta argues that in the social sector “we confuse morality with frugality.”  Similarly, by promoting a “poverty mindset” in our volunteer programs we unwittingly discourage investment in the compensation, time, and advertising it realistically takes to connect with, prepare, and support high-impact volunteers.  And, we severely restrict our ability to scale the volunteer effort to something that can have real, sustained impact.

It’s Time for a Change

Volunteers are valuable human resources that can be game changers for organizations who embrace and support them.  What would it mean for organizations to truly invest in the growth of volunteerism at their agencies?  How could the current limited capacity felt at many nonprofits be transformed into limitless possibility through an infused investment in the volunteer infrastructure?  If we truly believe volunteers are part of the solution, do we have the courage to take the first steps toward authentic change?  How will we involve volunteers themselves in this shift?  Who else can we enlist as our champions in these efforts?

In the current economic climate, and political battles on Capitol Hill, it’s hard to think beyond day-to-day survival.  It may feel counterintuitive to speak of growth when so many have fallen on hard times.  But, as leaders we must. 

As volunteer program managers we must convince our agency leadership that an investment in volunteers can lead to long-term dividends for our constituents.  As executive managers, we need to find ways to elevate and support the volunteer function beyond a second class status.  As volunteers, we need to continually advocate for the needs of our programs and ourselves as we work to support the causes we love.  It’s now more important than ever.

 

PS A tip of the hat goes to my colleague and friend at the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, Brad Palmertree, who forwarded this Ted Talk to me.  Thanks Brad!

Beyond Plaques & Pins: Volunteer Reward & Recognition from a New Perspective

I’m often asked for recommendations on how to reward and recognize volunteers.  Naturally, leaders of volunteers want to express their gratitude for the contributions of their volunteers and want to encourage them to continue their efforts.  Unfortunately, more often than not, they don’t have the budget or can’t convince senior management, or the fiscal department, to approve the expense. 

As I work on a volunteer recognition and retention plan for one of my consulting clients, I’ve taken a step back to reconsider -- What really motivates us?  How can that be integrated into how we reward and recognize volunteers?  Does recognition really require a big budget and lots of bling, or are we missing the point entirely?

For author Daniel Pink, most business (of which I assume nonprofits are a part) miss the point when they design their employee reward systems.  In his TED talk “The Puzzle of Motivation” he explains what science has only recently discovered -- contingent motivators don’t work.  When we attempt to inspire using a transactional approach -- "if you do X, we’ll give you X" -- performance actually gets worse.

Unfortunately, extrinsic motivators are still what most of the world relies on to reward employees (through pay for performance, for example) -- as well as volunteers (through gifts and awards).

“There’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business does,” explains Pink.  Extrinsic rewards or incentives don’t increase productivity or motivate, he argues, because they actually make us focus on a limited action and consequence and thus restrict possibility.  This is especially true when it comes to jobs that require cognitive skills over merely mechanical ones. 

Consider motivating the elusive skilled or leader volunteer.  How do we limit their potential by the way we recognize them?

During countless interviews and conversations with volunteers I’ve heard similar themes expressed.  They really don’t need to see the plaque, trophy, or fancy dinner to feel appreciated.  They want to see and experience the change in the world they work so hard to bring about.  And yet, our recognition planning continues as before.

But if the old paradigm doesn’t work, what does?  In his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” Pink identifies three basic human drives:

• Mastery – The need to create and learn new things
• Autonomy - The need to direct our own lives
• Purpose – The need to be part of something that improves our world and ourselves

In fact, Pink’s arguments point to the very premise of volunteering itself -- volunteers are driven to help organizations and communities, without pay, because they can bring about improvements in society and because they matter.

So, rather than using outdated ideas about what what motivates people, how can leaders of volunteers use what science has discovered to improve their recognition practices?  Here are some ideas:

Encourage Mastery

• Give volunteers leeway to create new work processes and tools for your program and agency; develop style guides so that they know the minimum expectations and can work within agency guidelines.
• Help volunteers learn new things; invite guest speakers in for monthly “Teach Ins” (or webinars) that relate to your cause or their work for your organization.
• Hold annual “Idea Mash Ups” where volunteers and staff come together for a day of problem solving around the organization or program’s biggest challenges; then, have them pitch their ideas and vote on which should be considered for implementation.

Provide Autonomy 

• If extensive training is required, allow volunteers to direct at least some of their our own learning; offer them a Learning Checklist and goals with which they can track their own progress.
• Provide robust online resources and tools for learning, personal exploration, and growth; set up a volunteer team to develop a wiki where volunteers can connect and share resources (www.wikispaces.com).
• Set up a process and technology (i.e., Google Calendar) for team-based scheduling; appoint one or two volunteer schedule coordinators, but allow the team to work together to plan shift coverage (and offer back up in case issues arise).

Reinforce Purpose

• Take every opportunity to demonstrate how the world has improved because of volunteer efforts -- from both the individual level, by sharing thank you notes from service beneficiaries, and the program level, by reporting program outcomes and achievements.
• Present an annual “State of the Community” report to volunteers that details the impacts the organization has had in furthering its mission or cause (both measurable and anecdotal), what challenges it has encountered, and what still needs to be done.
• Form a Volunteer Advisory Team to not only guide your program decision making, but to also evaluate or audit your program operations to find ways to improve.

By changing the way you approach volunteer recognition activities, you may be able to better tap into what really drives human motivations and, along the way, help volunteers feel truly acknowledged and appreciated. 

What ideas do you have on whats to engage, reward, and motivate volunteers? 

Volunteer Orientation is a Process, Not an Event: Here’s How to Keep It Moving Along

Last summer, I wrote a post about how human involvement is propelled by organizational socialization.  In volunteer programs, we often attempt to institutionalize socialization by creating a single orientation event that’s meant to, among other things, shorten the time it takes to get volunteers acclimated.  But, does this really work? 

Socialization is “a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.”  In the human resources world, socialization is synonymous with the terms assimilation, transition, alignment, induction, integration, onboarding, and orientation -- all related to helping new hires get comfortable. 

Socialization is inherently slow -- It can take over a year for full time employees.  So, is it realistic to believe we can rush part time volunteer through the process?  By the same token, do we really have the luxury of time when we welcome new volunteers onboard?  Unless new recruits are making a contribution pretty early in their involvement, they are likely to lose interest and leave. So, what to do?

Rapid Onboarding
The first thing to accept is that orientation does not occur overnight.  Also, it doesn’t happen solely because a volunteer participated in a group welcome session or watched an online recording of your PowerPoint slides. 

New volunteer orientation is not an event.  Rather, it involves a process of adaptation where volunteers experience a wide range of emotions internally -- surprise, fear, ambiguity, etc. -- while they wrestle with past and current expectations and make sense of their new environment.  So, we must support them accordingly.

So, what helps keep this process moving?  Orientation training can certainly help.  Especially if it is helpful, supportive, makes social cues easy to read, and fosters connections between newcomers, the organization, and the people in it.  There are also specific, evidence-based tactics you can put to use.

Six Ways to Socialize
Researchers have identified six distinct socialization tactics that help newcomers adapt more rapidly.  These have been widely adopted by human resources professionals and may be helpful to you.  Below is a description of each and my thoughts for volunteer programs.

• Collective-individual – Subject newcomers to common entry experiences with a group versus unique experiences in isolation from other new hires.
  • Implication: This is a strike against designing individual online learning experiences. Moreover, because volunteers need to be able to bond with others, it may be more helpful to schedule orientations at regular intervals when a critical mass is ready versus doing them one-by-one.
• Formal-informal - Use specifically designed activities and materials while segregating newcomers from incumbents versus no exclusively prepared materials and immediate mixing with incumbents (e.g., learning on the job).
  • Implication: Throwing folks in to “sink or swim” isn’t helpful, nor are orientations that are conducted verbally without backup materials.  
• Sequential-random - Communicate the sequence of discrete and progressive learning activities versus ambiguous or unknown sequence.
  • Implication: During the screening process, volunteers can benefit from an explicit training plan that lays out what will happen and by when.
• Fixed-variable - Communicate specific time frame of completing each socialization step versus no given time frame.
  • Implication: Although “work at your own pace” orientations may seem tempting and responsive to volunteer needs, it may be more helpful to set up achievable deadlines for each step.
• Serial-disjunctive - Provide newcomers with access to experienced organizational members as role models or mentors versus no access to experienced models.
  • Implication: Buddy systems really work, and research shows that they are actually more helpful when the buddy is there to answer mundane everyday questions  (like “where do I find the copy paper?”) versus to conduct technical training on how to do assigned tasks.
• Investiture-divestiture - Provide newcomers with positive social support and affirm their personal characteristics versus provide more negative social feedback until newcomers adapt.
  • Implication: Volunteer recognition shouldn’t be reserved for volunteers who’ve been around awhile or relegated to your annual recognition event; plan to build it into your orientation activities right from the start.

Is Orientation Better Online or On Land?
With more and more volunteer programs moving toward adopting elearning strategies, it also makes sense to take a look at whether it hurts or helps.  In one study, a group of new employees (261 individuals) participated in either a group social-based orientation session or an individual computer-based session. They were then asked to complete a survey measuring the six content areas of organizational socialization (organizational goals and values, history, politics, language, people and performance proficiency).

Compared with employees who attended the social-based orientation session, those who were in the computer-based session reported lower levels of socialization in the content areas of people, politics and organizational goals and values, and no significant differences on the more information-based dimensions of history, language and performance proficiency.

• Implication: Although it may not always be feasible, it appears that face-to-face training is more effective in helping volunteers identify with the organization and its people.  In terms of specific job tasks, online training may work well (BIG caveat: if it is designed well).

A New Approach: Integrated Orientation
Socialization occurs on a continuum and is commonly thought to occur in three phases -- before, during and after the official orientation training. To help volunteers get up to speed more quickly, try to integrate orientation information -- and opportunities for interaction with other volunteers and staff -- into the recruitment, screening, training, and placement stages of the relationship with your volunteers.  This will help solidify their connection with your organization and increase your chances of developing a mutually satisfactory partnership.

PS  If you’re building, or improving, your orientation program and are interested in what to include in your Volunteer Handbook, check out my post on the topic.